Indigenous Marathoners Get Delayed Satisfaction in Tokyo

Led by Korey Summers’ 3:08:51 clocking, three Indigenous Australian runners crossed the finish line of the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, marking the end of a year-long journey that was nearly blown off-course by Hurricane Sandy. The runners were part of an eight-person squad that traveled to New York last November as part of the Indigenous Marathon Project, where they found a devastated city and a canceled race.

The IMP is the brainchild of Rob de Castella, the former marathon world champion and world record holder. Its goal is to encourage “healthy, active lifestyles” in Indigenous communities, and, eventually, to tap into a potential new source of distance running talent. (In Australia, “Indigenous” refers to the Aboriginal people who were the first inhabitants of most of the continent, along with the distinct population of Torres Strait Islanders, whose islands are located between northeast Australia and New Guinea.)

“I am extremely proud of each of these three young men,” de Castella said after the race. “They have shown great determination and commitment to bounce back from the disappointment of New York and run so well in such cold and windy conditions. This is something that they will carry with themselves for the rest of their lives.”

New York’s cancelation left many would-be-marathoners adrift; for the IMP athletes, two key barriers were fundraising for another race, and the intense heat of a record-setting Australian summer in which the country’s Bureau of Meteorology added a new color to weather maps to include temperatures above 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It’s been pretty tough,” admitted Summers, who lives near Alice Springs in central Australia. “Most days it’s been 42 degrees [108 F] or higher, so I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to get my long runs in, even though it was still low 30s [~90 F] at that time.”

In contrast, conditions in Tokyo were unexpectedly frigid. Still, Summers’ time was a new marathon record for runners from the IMP, which is now beginning its fourth year. Close behind were Nat Heath, from Newcastle, in 3:14:51, and Jurgean Tabuai, from Saibai Island in the Torres Strait Islands, in 3:27:50.

Meanwhile, the Project continues to expand its presence in remote Indigenous communities around the country. Runners like Kieran de Santis, who traveled to New York but not to Tokyo, have nonetheless sparked changes in their home communities. In de Santis’s isolated home of Milikapiti, in the Tiwi Islands, 32 local children participated in IMP-inspired 3-K and 5-K fun runs earlier this month, an occurrence that would have been unheard of before de Santis’s selection for the Marathon Project.

Another IMP runner, Emma Cameron, missed New York with a knee injury but is now preparing to run Boston this spring. She passed her final test two weeks ago by completing a hilly 30-K trail run through Mount Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra, the famous training grounds where de Castella did much of his running while dominating the international marathon scene in the 1980s.

“I tried out for IMP because I wanted to represent my people, my family and my friends, and rather than telling them what they should be doing I wanted to lead by example and show them that anything is possible,” she said. “I know Boston is going to be one of the biggest challenges I have faced, but I am excited to get there.”

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